Arrival in Sweden

We are appalled at the health and fitness standards of the Swedish youth of Gotenburg. We are parked up near a leisure park/gym complex and everywhere we look there are svelte Swedes running, jogging, doing yoga poses and generally sweating profusely whilst at the same time looking incredibly attractive and blonde. It’s stressing us out just watching. On the flip side, just about every woman between the ages of 14 and 26 seems to smoke in little huddles outside buildings and in bars. It’s just like the eighties!!

Thought it would be a bit rude to get closeups

We headed off to Sweden this morning so were up early to get showered so Graham could prepare Dickie while Kerriann did her makeup. Dickie’s Dunny was quietly emptied, the fresh water tank filled, the grey water emptied, the electricity un-hooked, and all before 7am. At 7 15 Kerriann’s face was insitu so we readied for the off. Went to start Dickie for a discreet departure and embarrassingly set off the alarm waking all the slumbering campers - oops!  I hope our pleasant German neighbours with the cutest dog in the world (a Bolunka called Fila) will forgive us in time.

We were going to top up with cheap Danish Diesel but Kerriann was worried the half mile drive to the Ferry terminal might take over half an hour so we drove straight there in 2 minutes. The crossing was lovely and smooth but a little misty. We caught sight of the Gotenburg archipelago through the windows. It looked very spooky through the haze.

on the ferry to Gotenburg

glamorously draped over the ferry 

The roads around Gotenburg were manic compared to the lovely quiet Danish roads, and the first camping place we had chosen was a bit unattractive despite its marina-side location so we continued for another 45 minutes and have ended up on a lovely (but pricey) location in a country park on the outskirts of town. We don’t mind paying the £24 per night as we have had so many free nights during the trip. Out of interest our average nightly charge is working out at £ 7.36 and we expect this to drop as in both Sweden and Norway wild camping (overnighting in lay-bys and public car parks) is legal.

We caught the rather beautiful old, electric tram into town this afternoon and had a wander around the shops, lanes and harbour. The weather cleared up and so we stopped for a beer and an apple juice (guess who had which drink) in an outside bar and were not shocked at the £ 9.30 bill – we are expecting to pay a lot for drinks and meals. Once the mist disappeared and the sun broke through the day was a scorcher and we are just setting a table up for wine next to Dickie. Its 23 deg. C at nearly 7pm, the birds are singing and we are not joining in with the joggers.

A group of gorgeous looking young people have just appeared over the hill jogging backwards with weights in their hands. Too disturbing! We would find it even more disturbing had it not been for our recent wine consumption. We've even seen people our age running in shiny track suits. They even seem to be following maps.' More wine please Mr Fluffy.'